The present invention relates to an opening cylinder of an open-end spinning device having a base body containing at least parts of a face of the opening cylinder, over which the opening cylinder is installed on a shaft that is supported in a bearing for rotatable support of the opening cylinder, with a clothing holder containing at least part of a face of the opening cylinder, whereby the base body is located on the side of the shaft away from the bearing and whereby an axial distance exists between the base body and the clothing holder, producing a gap extending in a radial direction.
Opening cylinders are used with open-end spinning devices to prepare the fibers to be spun by detaching the fibers from a fiber sliver. To achieve this, the fiber sliver is fed into an opening cylinder housing in which it is opened into individual fibers by an opening cylinder provided with teeth or needles. In this process, the opening cylinder rotates at high speed. The individual fibers are then conveyed through a fiber channel from the housing of the opening cylinder to a spinning element, e.g. a spinning rotor.
To ensure the ability of the opening cylinder to rotate, it is installed on a shaft that is supported by a bearing. During the operation of the opening cylinder, the bearing is exposed to dust and fiber fly that is practically always present in a spinning installation. For this reason, the state of the art has already configured opening cylinders in such manner that their bearings are accessible, in particular for inspection and cleaning purposes.
DE 31 23 480 discloses an opening cylinder having a base body on which a combing clothing is pushed and fastened by means of a clamping mechanism. When the combing clothing support is removed from the base body, the area of the bearing can be inspected through radial bores going through the base body. In another embodiment, the opening cylinder has a separately installed face located on the outer ring of the bearing. The first embodiment of the opening cylinder shown here allows access to the interior of the base body, but the bearing itself is practically inaccessible because only a very narrow gap is left between the base body and the outer ring of the bearing, and besides, access is possible only through the bores.
The other embodiment has the disadvantage that the clothing support must be made at the same time so as to fit exactly with the base body as well as the face toward the bearing. The latter can be mounted by means of a fit to the outer ring of the bearing and is at a distance from the clothing ring, as the surface toward the bearing does not rotate together with the clothing ring. Furthermore, this embodiment has the disadvantage that the base body and the outer ring of the bearing are barely at a distance from each other, so that cleaning of the interior of the opening cylinder appears to be easy in principle, but not near the bearing. In particular, the not rotating face toward the bearing furthermore causes the production of this opening cylinder and the disassembly of the clothing ring to be expensive.